Scratchings-and-Sniffings

---

Katie the Wonder Dog - A Celebration of Life Posted: 25 Mar 2010 11:03 AM PDT Sometimes there are stories that just need to be shouted from the rooftop. This is one. Katie, a gorgeous Black Lab, is truly a wonder dog and she embodies the hope and happiness of many pets and pet parents. Katie, with the help of her pet insurance policy (provided by PurinaCare Pet Health Insurance), made it through a harrowing ordeal, to become one of Michigan State University's "Miracle Pets." MSU's Veterinary Teaching Hospital honored 50 "Miracle Pets" this past weekend, in a Celebration of Life ceremony, an event that is in its 7th year. And, because of this outstanding focus on caring for our pets, PurinaCare has created a yearly award to be given to vet students. "In recognition of the life saving treatment provided to Katie by the veterinarians and staff at Veterinary Teaching Hospital and to honor the next generation of veterinarians, PurinaCare established a $1000 award to be given away annuallyto aid an MSU veterinary student in fostering their future in medicine." This year's award winner is Bianca Buffa, a first year student at MSU. But the real story is Katie's story. Katie went for routine spay surgery and did not recover as she should have. She continued to bleed and was having trouble walking. Soon, she was given a unit of blood, it was discovered that her blood was not clotting properly and she soon developed more clotting issues, needing more blood and plasma. (did you know dogs need blood transfusions???) According to my contact at PurinaCare, "over the next week, emergency doctors, ultrasonographers, radiologists, and surgeons worked tirelessly over Katie" and discovered that she had an "infarction of her sleen." Wow. I'm not sure what that is - we'll have to ask Dr. Larry - but, after receiving an amazing 26 units of plasma and 9 units of blood, along with the removal of her spleen, Katie rebounded and in 10 days, she went home all in one piece, to a normal active life. Her medical bills totalled over $18,000, with more than $14,00 covered by pet health insurance. A testament to pet parents' love (they did not hesitate to take Katie to MSU - they knew their pet health insurance would help cover the costs, and they could not risk losing her)... the dedication of veterinary services and a LOT of blood transfusions - contributed by 30 donor dogs! Just look at this picture of Katie and tell me you aren't moved to cheer! Let's hear it for MSU, for pet health insurance, and for a dog that wouldn't give up!

You are subscribed to email updates from Scratchings-and-Sniffings To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610